Behold the Sharing Economy

Of late, this “Sharing Economy” thing has been getting a lot of attention. There have been so many new companies coming into the play enabling people to rent anything from their car to their house, and even drive way.

RelayRides is one such site that specializes in helping people rent their cars, thus posing some kind of competition to the business of big car rental companies and offering people another option.

If you are looking for ways to make money with your car, you may want to consider RelayRides and other similar companies.

How it Works

RelayRides is a website that allows you to offer your car for rent for a couple of hours, days and even longer. That’s how you generate some extra cash.

For the purpose of safety they have an approved list of people who can hire cars.

Let me explain the whole process for car owners who are interested in making some cash by renting out their cars.

1. List your car

First things first. Sing up on the site, tell them about your car, add a few pictures, and you are in. You then let them know on their virtual calendar when your car is available (e.g. Monday thru Friday between 8 am to – 5 pm)

You then print out the insurance card that the site gives you and put in your glovebox. Now you are ready for your first rental.

2. Respond to requests

From there on it’s a waiting game. Whenever there is a car rental request around you, the company will email you about it. You can then check out the person’s profile and rating (yes, renters are rated by car owners after each transaction) to decide whether you want to rent your car to him/her.

You can also call the renter and ask question if you feel that would help. The best thing about this whole deal is that you are always in charge of who gets to drive your car. You choose who you want to rent your car to and who you don’t want to.

3. Meet the renter

If everything checks out and you are ready to rent your car to the person in need, you set up an appointment to meet the person.

The renters use their credit card to pay the rent online on RelayRide’s website.

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They then call you to set up a time where they can come and get the keys. And that will also enable you to verify their identity before letting them drive away with your car. You can check their license, show them around the car, note down the mileage and fuel level, and give them the key.

4. Collect your key

Once the trip is over, the renter will bring your car back and hand over the key. You then can check the car while he/she is there, to make everything is OK.

5. Get paid

The renter will return your car at the end of the trip. Talk to them about the vehicle condition, and make sure everything’s in order.

Make sure to rate your renter, so other owners can stay informed.

Three days after the completion of a RelayRides reservation, you the company will automatically initiate ACH payment (like direct deposit) directly to the bank account number you provided when setting up your profile. From there it may take up to 3 days to have the cash in your account.

Now, if the reservation is for longer periods, say a month, you get partial payment every 7 days.

How Much Can I Make?

It is for you to decide the rental you want to charge for your car and inform RelayRides of that.

RelayRides pays you 75% of the rental price and excess mileage charges, retaining with them 30% toward insurance, service charges and their overheads.

Now, as far as how much you can make, it all depends on your location, your car, the length of the trip and things like that.

Again, you can set your own prices.

But from what I have seen, it averages like this:

$10 an hour

$70 per day

$400 per week

$200 per weekend

$1,200 per month

What About Safety?

Obviously, your major concern would be what the consequences are if the person who is renting your car hits it against a tree and smashes it completely.

Well, RelayRides takes good care of that by having an insurance policy worth $1 million to cover any damage that could occur while your car is being driven by the renter.

To further safeguard your interest, the company makes sure that the renters possess a valid driving license and have a clean driving record.

My Impression

Sure, you may have to bear some inconvenience at times when the car is not around when you needed it badly. Yet, that doesn’t really make the proposal unviable.

Suppose you were going to be away from town for a week or ten days and rent out your car to pocket $300 on coming back home! Isn’t that attractive?

Those traveling out frequently and needing a car in different cities for a few hours could benefit and save money on patronizing RelayRides, compared to hiring car from any of those car rental companies.

And that explains why the company is having a lot of success in attracting customers.

But they need a lot more car owners now. So, I would get in now while it’s new and not too saturated. Your chances of making good money is much better in the early days.

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